The Last Day
by coyotemoon722
Summary: This story takes place in Washington, D.C. immediately after the events that cause the Zombie Apocalypse. Chris and Alex, confused, try to make their way through the city in an effort to find out what or who is behind this phenomenon.
1. Chapter 1

The Last Day

It was Sunday, October 3rd 2010 in downtown Washington D.C. Up on the twelfth floor of the Woodburn Apartments, light filtered in through blinds in a dark bedroom. Chris Worthing woke up at 11am, and stared up at the ceiling. _What a night _he thought. He had spent the night out clubbing and after several shots of whiskey, beers, and various drugs, he apparently managed to lure a girl home to party some more and pass out. At least that was the best explanation for the girl asleep next to him. He didn't even remember if they had had sex or not. No matter, it's not like he hadn't gotten his share of women in the past. He was in his early thirties, and had almost grown bored of sex by this point in his life. He didn't know whether or not this was a sad thing, but deep down he was just tired of the meaningless one night stands. Even though he was constantly surrounded by friends, he felt alone.

He looked over at the girl, and began to study what he could see of her. She was pretty. She didn't resemble most of the party girls he had brought home in the past. She looked…nice. Like maybe she had some depth and a soul to speak of. She had dark brown hair, and fair, flawless skin. It didn't appear that drugs and alcohol had taken their toll yet. She also appeared a bit younger than Chris, maybe 26 or so.

He rolled out of bed, went to the bathroom and urinated, and then went to the kitchen to grab some milk and cereal. He took the cereal to the couch and began to count last night's earnings. He came home with about 1200 dollars, which was a decent night for him. All of the cokeheads were out last night so there was plenty of cash to be made. He thought about the money he had saved thus far; over 200 grand. If he kept it up for another two years he could retire. Then what? Maybe buy a house and try to find a wife. Who knows, maybe Sleeping Beauty over there would fit the bill.

He turned on the TV. Only static. Did he forget to pay the stupid cable bill again? He opened his laptop. No internet connection. Makes sense since his internet and cable were provided by the same company. He grabbed his phone…and then realized shit, they're closed on Sunday. Oh well, I guess no NFL football today. Maybe he'd just head to a bar to watch the game.

He heard the girl wake up and walk to the bathroom in her underwear and a tshirt that appeared to be one of his. _Not bad_ he mused. Maybe this one could stick around for a while. First he had to get her name. While finishing his cereal, she came out and sat next to him.

"Hey." Said mystery girl.

"Hey." Chris replied. "So, that was some night huh?" He really didn't remember a thing, but didn't want to be too embarrassed about that fact.

"Yeah, that was some after-hours party."

_After-hours?_ Man how much of this night did Chris forget? Note to self, no more whiskey. Whiskey makes Chris black out. "Yeah, about last night…So, I really hate to say this, but I don't remember much, did we?"

"Nothing happened. We both passed out the second we got to your place. I think we were both exhausted from all the partying."

"Right. So, I'm Chris." He thought this would be a good way to re-introduce himself because who knows how much she remembered either.

"I remember, Chris with the bright green eyes. I think that's how you got me to start talking to you. You do have some incredible eyes. Anyway, I'm Alex. It's short for Alexandra."

"It's a pleasure. Sorry, I don't have much to eat; just some cereal and maybe a few hot pockets."

"Oh that's okay, I was probably going to head out and grab coffee somewhere before heading home."

"Mind if I join you? I could use some coffee after last night."

"Sure, I'd like that."

Chris looked at the floor and saw a skirt, blouse, and high heels. This was hardly Sunday daytime attire. "If you'd like, you can shower here and we can buy you a new outfit on the way."

"Uhm…wow okay, you don't have to do that."

"It's fine, I have the money. It'll be nice to see you freshened up. That way we can get a new start on the day together. Why don't you go ahead; there are spare towels in the closet. Make yourself at home." Chris prided himself on being a gentleman, even though his lifestyle didn't always permit it.

"That's really nice of you. I won't take long. Thanks."

"Again, my pleasure."

Alex smiled and trotted off to go shower. Chris looked at his phone again. No text messages? Okay, this was odd. Being a very successful dealer meant one thing if nothing else: Endless text messages. He looked back through old ones, and some were from friends about where to meet up for the party after the club, and others were just late night customers that he may or may not have serviced. Either way, this was starting to get weird. For the first time of the morning Chris had an uneasy feeling about things.

He went back to the kitchen and rinsed out the cereal bowl and put it in the dishwasher. Then he headed to the window, and opened the blinds. It was then that he saw it. The strangest sight he had ever seen. There were cars parked all in the middle of 16th street, just haphazardly, as if people had gotten out in the event of an emergency. _What the fuck was going on? _He looked down at the street, and saw an old man who looked like he was stumbling his way up the street. Then he took a closer look and the man appeared to have really bad skin and he looked frail. He was just hobbling, sort of aimlessly. He strained to look further down 16th street. He saw a crowd of people off in the distance. Something was definitely wrong. Had there been some kind of attack? Either way, this was obviously some serious shit.

He went to the front door and opened it quietly and looked left, and saw nothing. He looked right and his jaw dropped. There were people just ambling around…But they looked terrible, like they were sick or something. _This is fucked up_. _There is definitely something going on._ He wanted to yell to these people to see if they needed help, but by this point he was scared. What if whatever happened to these people is contagious.

_We gotta get out of here,_ he thought. Mild panic started to set in, and it took him a second to collect his thoughts as he gently closed the door. He grabbed his backpack and immediately started loading it up with supplies. He opened his safe and pulled out the money. He would take 50 grand with him. That would be enough to live off of for quite a while until shit settled down. He would leave the rest in the safe in case something happened to the cash. He grabbed both of his guns, his knife. Uhm…the blow. _Okay, I think I can go a while without drugs at this point, _he reasoned. This is obviously an emergency, there will be time to party later. It wasn't really so much the need to have the drug, it was just that he was just so used to having it, and people needing it. If things were as bad as they seemed, no one would need this stuff for quite a while.

He closed and locked the safe, and through some bottled water into the backpack. DC water had never been good, and Chris drank bottled water religiously. In fact, he was so paranoid about it that he always got his drinks with no ice. Alex walked out of the bathroom in a towel and saw the guns and backpack on the floor.

"Do you always carry a gun to grab coffee on Sunday?" She mused.

"Okay, I don't know how to say this. We're in trouble. Wait, that came out wrong. I don't mean the cops are after me or anything, I mean the whole city is in trouble. There's been an emergency." Alex looked concerned.

"Really? What kind of emergency?"

"I don't know, there are a bunch of sick, aimless people walking around in my hallway, and they don't even look coherent. I feel like I'm still dreaming or something. But it's real, they're out there."

"We have to do something." Alex replied. She went to her purse and grabbed her phone and speed-dialed a friend. _We're sorry, all circuits are busy. Please try your call again later._ "The phone lines are busy."

"Figures. Look, we may have to postpone that coffee date and try to make it to the nearest police station. There's one about 6 blocks from here." They both looked at each other. Alex looked worried. "Look, I don't know what's going on, and I know you just met me, and I'm a gun-carrying drug dealer. But right now, you have to trust me. If we're going to get out of this we have to work together. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"You…just met me."

"I don't care, there's something going on and we need each other right now. I know you're probably worried about your family, and so am I, but…"

"Actually both of my parents died in a car accident when I was young. I was raised by my grandparents, and they died last year. So, I don't really have a family."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I'm fine. You're right, we need to work together to find out what's going on and get to safety."

Chris handed her the glock. "You ever use one of these?"

"No." Alex replied nervously. "I have never even held one in my hand."

"Okay, well you gotta use all of your strength to keep the gun level, and aim for your target. Sometimes it helps to close one eye so you can get a sharper viewpoint. Either way, aim for the chest. That thing will knock anyone down, and most likely kill them. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, but we have to be prepared for the worst. Whatever that is."

Alex nodded, and put the gun in her purse. Chris tucked his into his pants. He was now regretting never having gotten a holster. He never needed one. The gun was in case of intruders. He didn't walk around the city carrying a gun.

"Okay, now get dressed and let's go. Oh, and hand me your shoes, so I can break off those heels. Here ya go." He handed her back the shoes and she put them on.

"I'm sorry, I must look like a wreck." Alex said embarrassingly.

"You look beautiful. Some girls don't look good without makeup but you look really nice."

"Thank you, that's really sweet. I knew you weren't a bad guy. That's why I felt safe going home with you. I mean, I know what you do, but it's not who you are. I could sense that in your words."

"Thanks. Well, time to go I guess. When we get out there, we don't talk, we don't make a sound. I don't want these people coming after us if they're contagious"

"Right."

Chris opened the door and peered into the hallway. It looked like most of the people headed down to the end of the hallway and they appeared to be surrounding something. Most of them were crouched down around whatever it was. It was then that he noticed the stench of death in the hallway. _People are dying?_ _Okay, keep it together Worthing. For the girl at least. You don't want her panicking as well. So just keep calm._

Alex gagged a little, and Chris saw that she had noticed the smell too. He grabbed her hand and led her around the corner and there were more of those people in the far corner. The stairwell was right on his left, and they went into it, and began the decent. The stairs were empty. They made it all the way down to the first floor, out of the stairwell, and into the hallway. More sickos. Yeah, this was beginning to feel really fucked up. Luckily, the exit to the building was close by, and the people…things, whatever they were, were off down the hall, pre-occupied with something.

They made it to the exit, and walked outside. The noonday sun blinded them for a bit so they had to stop and refocus. They both stared at the crowd of people that were ambling around. Chris was horrified. It looked as if some of them had limbs missing.

"What are these things?" Alex whispered. But she knew the answer; she just didn't want to admit it.

"I don't know, but let's just move quietly." Chris looked towards where his car was parked. There was no way to get to the car without attracting those things. "Well, there's my car. It doesn't look like we're going to be able to use it. Let's go this way, we'll walk to the station. It's pretty close."

Chris and Alex headed out of the parking lot, and crossed the desolate street. Even for a Sunday, 16th street was always busy with at least some traffic. Chris was beginning to wonder if he and Alex were the last people that weren't sick. Here, we gotta turn down this street.

About halfway up the block, someone jumped out and grabbed Chris. "Aghh!" Chris exclaimed and shoved the thing off of him. It made a hissing-gasping type noise and lunged forward again. Chris moved out of the way and it stumbled passed him. It almost ran into Alex, who also lept out of the way. It fell forward and hit the car parked on the street. When it turned around, Chris shot it in the chest. It was knocked back a bit, but then it kept coming. _W.T.F._ Chris took another shot, this time right between the eyes, and the thing fell to the ground, silent. Chris just stood there, trembling a bit. Alex looked shaken up too.

"I think I know what these things are. I've seen them in the movies, and on TV. They're…zombies."

"You're kidding right?" Chris replied.

"I know it's crazy, but what other explanation is there? These things walk and act like zombies, and that one looked like it was going to try to bite you or something."

"Okay that's fucked up." Chris had to hold it together. He was in the Apocalypse apparently. And he'd just killed his first zombie. He'd never killed anything in his life. _What the hell was going on?_ No matter, he had to keep pressing on and find out. He gathered himself together. "Come on, the station's only a few blocks away. We'll find out what's going on soon enough."

Chris and Alex continued down the side street.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chris and Alex kept walking down the block toward 14th street. They didn't say much. They were both pretty shaken up by the attack, and reality had started to set in. Besides, what was there to talk about? They hardly knew one another.

Still, Alex decided to try and lighten the mood. "So are you from here? Of course not, no one's _from_ D.C., everyone's a transplant."

Chris didn't quite feel like chatting at the moment. Frankly, he was scared shitless. Still, he had to stick to the plan of remaining calm and not letting the girl see how scared he was. He needed for both of them to be strong. "Uh, yeah I'm about as native a Washingtonian as anyone else. I've been here for about thirteen years. Before that I lived in Alexandria with my mom. She kicked me out when I started doing dumb shit. She just couldn't take it anymore. Before that I was a military brat, moved around a lot. How bout you?"

"I'm from Bethesda. I moved here a few years ago with a friend. We were gonna start a band together, but then she got strung out on meth and then it was just me, so I started waiting tables and singing at open mic to keep my music fresh. Been here ever since."

"A singer eh? That's cool. I've always wanted to sing. I played the guitar a little when I was younger, but I never was any good at it, so I put it down."

They got to 14th street and Chris looked at the corner store. The iron grating was down on the door and the windows. As far as he recalled, they were usually open on Sunday. He glanced up the street, and all the stores were closed. It was like D.C. had become one giant ghost town. There were more amblers on this street, enough to overwhelm him and Alex. One of them seemed to take notice and started walking their way. "Come on, this way."

They headed down an alleyway. After being in D.C. long enough, and living in enough places around the city, Chris pretty much knew it like the back of his hand. It was so familiar to him; even just the stone-cobbled nature of this particular alleyway. He started to think about the fact that none of it was ever going to be the same. _How could this even happen? _He thought to himself. This was the nation's capital; pretty much the most powerful place on Earth, at least on paper. Something had to go terribly wrong for things to get this fucked up, this quickly.

They made it to the top of the alleyway and there was a lone ambler at the head of it. _Fuck, how are we going to get anywhere like this?_ Chris took aim and shot the ambler in the head. He and Alex headed out of the alleyway and noticed some more freaks down the side street to the left. They had already started heading their way. _Shit._ He thought. _These things must be attracted to noise_. The good news was that they didn't move very fast, and this comforted him, even though he still felt as though he were dreaming. "Don't worry, we'll get to that cop station soon and we'll figure all this out." Somehow Alex was holding it together. Maybe she was putting on the same show he was. Whatever the case, his focus turned back to the task at hand. "Let's go."

They headed up 14th street and noticed more zombies. A lot of them. It was getting to be too much to handle. Chris thought for the first time in his life what a disadvantage they had being in the city. Everything was closed off by buildings, like a giant rat's maze. He used to use this factor to his advantage. But now with the city crawling with these things, no place was safe. He decided that it would be impossible to get to the station, even though it was only a few blocks away. There were just too many zombies. He needed to get _out_ of the city, where there was more room.

Alex could sense Chris's frustration with the situation. "I don't know how easy it's going to be getting passed that hoard." She said. Great, now she was already calling them a hoard. Is that the proper pluralization for a freaking group of zombies? Who knows? But it was starting to bother him how calm she was. "You're right. Change of plans. We're heading to a friend's house. He lives close by. Hopefully he'll be home and he'll know more about what's going on." 'Friend' was a very loose term. The truth was Chris despised the guy. But he never quite let on, and kept him as an ally when in need. Ten minutes later they arrived at his house.

"Dread, what's up my man!" Dread was so named for his dreadlocks, but Chris always regarded him as a dreadful person. He once almost killed a friend of his, just because he didn't like how the guy treated him. This guy had feelings, but they were all motivated by selfishness. He was an eerie fellow too always peering out from under those long, blonde dreads. Plus he was strung out half the time on crack. Yeah, this wasn't the best safe haven, but it was going to have to do in a pinch.

"Hey what's up fag. You got any blow?"

"Nice friend." Alex remarked.

"Geez man, I haven't seen you in weeks and that's how you talk to me? Come on, we need help here. What the fuck is going on?"

"You ain't heard the news? It's the end of the world bitch."

"Uhm, yeah apparently. Yo man, you mind if we come in, we're kinda itchin to get out of sight of these fuckers."

"Yeah, come on in. What's up with that blow?"

"Yeah uh, I left it back at the spot man. Somethin about _fucking zombies_ everywhere made me think it wasn't a huge priority."

Someone came from the back of the apartment. "Yo, what up fool." It was Chris's best friend James.

"Man, are you a sight for sore eyes." Chris sighed.

"Yeah man, creepers are everywhere. It's the fuckin zombie apocalypse up in here!"

"Yeah. Shit's fucked up man. My phone doesn't work, nothing works. I don't even know what to do, how to reach my mom…"

"Yeah homie, it's good to see you. I was worried about you too. Thought maybe you turned into one of them. Then I'd have to bust a cap in my best friend's ass, and who wants to do that?"

"Likewise bro." Chris was invigorated now that he had found James. He met James in the first few years of living in D.C., and they instantly became friends. They just had a common bond. Something unexplainable which made them understand one another. They'd been in a few fights, but always made up afterward over a few beers. They had lived together, traveled together. They were road dogs. This was exactly what Chris needed to get his spirits up in a time like this. And, this was also the perfect segue to get the heck out of Dread's place. In retrospect, it was a bad idea to come here in the first place but it must have been fate that brought him here, cuz now James was with him, and they made a good team. They were close enough that they could speak in code.

"Uh yeah, so hey James, let's head back to my place and grab that blow. I mean what's a fuckin end of the world party without party supplies am I right?

James knew what was up. He didn't really care for Dread either. "Yeah, let's go do that homie. I'm down." He looked back at Dread, "Yo we'll be back fool." But they had no intention of coming back.

"Right on." Dread said, as if half dead himself.

They headed back out onto the sidewalk. James gave him a big hug. "Yo it's good to see you man. We gotta make the most of this shit now."

Chris had made a lot of colorful friends during his time in D.C. He associated with all types of people; from intellectuals, to pseudo-intellectuals, to the living dead, a.k.a. people like Dread whose only concern was the next fix. He often felt guilty because he essentially was part of the problem, and he made a killing off of being part of the problem. But he started off in the same place those guys did. He came to the city after being kicked out with nothing but the clothes on his back. He scrounged his way out of the gutter to become what he considered to be a civilized man. He had morals; some of them just happened to get in the way of work. But he had learned a lot from the world, just by speaking to people. He always loved a good conversation, and people in bars loved to talk about a wide variety of things. He wasn't university-educated, but he believed himself an intellectual, and always strived to carry himself that way. Still, he could slang it up with the best of them. James was the same way really. They were a lot alike. Even though they were not related, they may as well have been brothers.

"So this is Alex." Chris said.

"A pleasure to meet you Alex. You're in good hands with this guy. He's a good man."

"Likewise."

Chris looked perplexed. "So what do you think we should do man? The whole city's crawlin with these fuckers. We gotta come up with a plan."

James was carrying a big backpack, one that he'd used countless times in his travels on the road. He was well experienced in survival. "Yeah, I feel you man. I grabbed supplies from the crib before I left. I got some food and water, matches, a little Jim Beam... Hahaha. I figure the safest place to be right now is in the woods. We should head down to Rock Creek. Spend the night there. You bring a sleeping bag?"

Chris looked sheepish. He packed in a hurry, and didn't even think that maybe they'd have to sleep outdoors. After all, the police were supposed to come to the rescue. This was a major city. The capital of the free world for crying out loud. "Uh, no man. I feel stupid, I brought my guns and some water. We packed in a hurry because we had no idea what to do."

"It's all good man, you two can share my bag and I'll just sleep on my blanket."

"You sure man? It could get cold tonight."

"Yeah it's cool man, I got my coat and blanket to keep me warm. We'll head out to V.A. after that to try and look for more civilization. Of course I brought the guitar too, so we can jam out to the end of the world! Hahaha."

Chris still couldn't believe his ears. Civilization? He was still having a hard time coming to grips with reality. "Uh yeah man, that sounds like a plan. Are you okay with that?" He looked over at Alex.

"Yeah, I don't think I have a choice at this point. Plus I'm enjoying your company, despite the fact we're in the middle of this whole disaster. It's nice to not be alone."

"Eventually I gotta head to mom's place. Or contact her somehow. I gotta know if she's okay. I'm sure she's worried about me as well." Chris said.

"Yeah I feel you man. One thing for certain is the city ain't safe. Even if we jacked a ride, we wouldn't make it passed some of those hoards downtown. Let's just get the camp set up and we'll head out for more supplies tomorrow."

"Yeah, I promised Alex I'd buy her some new clothes. Looks like we'll have to find something a little more rugged than what I had in mind for our coffee date." Chris and Alex both gave each other a knowing smile.

The three of them headed toward Rock Creek National Park, less than half a mile away.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Walking down the path to Rock Creek Park, they started noticing fewer zombies. There were still a few here and there milling about in the distance, but it wasn't that big of a problem at the moment. The real issue though was coming up with a plan of getting out of the city.

Chris knew if they followed the paths in Rock Creek they could exit the city one of two ways: Either up through Maryland, or down through Georgetown. Maryland was the safer of the two routes, however it would bring them in the opposite direction of where his mother lived, and he was really anxious to make sure she was okay. The path through Georgetown headed directly toward Virginia, where she lived. Either way though, if this epidemic had spread throughout the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia), he was going to have a hard time avoiding the city streets altogether. This unnerved him, but he didn't let it show.

Chris looked at James, who was walking and smoking a cigarette. "Which way do you think we should head out tomorrow? I think if we're gonna have a chance to find mom, we should head south over the bridge, but who knows how many creepers we'll find on that thing."

"Yeah I don't know man, that sounds fine with me. We're gonna have to figure out a way to get passed these fuckers eventually. We can't hide out in Rock Creek Park forever. Besides, there's hardly any wildlife left even if we wanted to hunt. We gotta find a ride, and a clear path down to V.A. Stop at a WalMart or something and load up. We might be able to get some hunting gear and a tent while we're at it."

Right, hunting gear. Chris though of last night. How he was partying with friends, doing shots. Dancing, living it up. He had spent so many nights doing that kind of stuff. But now, today, it was like the entire world had been transformed. It was as if they had reached a new form of existence; one based solely on survival.

Chris had an idea. "Hey man, what about Fletcher's Boathouse? We could cross the Potomac from there. I'm sure the guy that runs that place is holed up somewhere." Chris thought for a second. "Hmm…now that I think about it other people may have the same idea. Maybe we should try to make it there tonight, and camp out there, and cross the river in the morning."

"Yeah that's a good idea man. Let's do it." James said.

They made their way down the paths, and soon there were no zombies in sight. They walked for about an hour, and they were getting close to the part where the woods ended and the city began. They looked out onto R Street. It looked pretty desolate. Maybe the disease hadn't spread this far. _Wishful thinking._ They decided the safest route would be to cross Wisconsin Ave. and just head through the residential area until they made it back down to the wooded area leading to Fletcher's Boathouse.

As they made their way down R Street, Chris saw a neighbor peer out the window. An older gentleman, he looked terrified. He felt terrible for the old man. He had thought about going to the door and asking the man if he could do anything for him, but he didn't want him slowing the group down. Still, he felt obligated to help. "Hey guys, stop for a second. There's an old guy there that might need our help. I think if we're gonna survive out here, we best start earning some karma points. What do you say James?"

"I don't know man, we need to travel light. I don't want this guy slowing us down."

"Let's just see if he even knows what's going on. He may know something we don't. It couldn't hurt to at least talk to the guy."

"Whatever man, but we best be getting to that boathouse before dark. I don't want to have to be trying to fend off creepers in the dark. Those things are scary enough during the day time."

Chris checked his phone, 4:10pm. They had about 3 hours left of daylight. The group approached the row house, and Chris rang the doorbell.

The old man yelled though the door. "I don't want any! Go away, now, get out of here!"

"Hey mister, we're here to help." Chris yelled back.

The old man opened the door part of the way, and a chain was securing it from being fully opened. "What do you want?" He looked scornfully at the trio.

"Probably the same as you sir, we just want to know what's going on." Chris replied.

"I'll tell ya what's going on, it's the end of the world, that's what!"

"Yeah, so we noticed. Look, we just wanted to know if you knew anything about this epidemic. If you've heard anything on the radio, or talked to anyone."

"I haven't talked to anyone since my wife died 3 years ago. I don't talk to strangers, you're lucky I'm even talking to you!"

"Okay, well is there anything we can do to help? Would you like to come with us?"

"I'm not going out there…I'm happy to die here in my own house, in my own bed. I'll be with my wife after I die, and I'll be happy. I got enough food to last for months, and I got some readin' to be catchin' up on. I do appreciate you stopping by, but I'm going to stay here and ride it out. Now go on. And may the Lord be with you."

"Thank you sir, and good luck." Chris replied.

The old man shut the door, and they continued down R Street. "That was some old man." James said. "He sure had conviction. I guess when you reach a certain age it ain't about survival no more, it's more about making peace with the way things are. No matter how fucked up they might be."

As they approached Wisconsin, they started to see some straggling zombies. Four of them. "Alright man, looks like those creepers are what's standing in the way of us and that boathouse. Let's cap them fools." James said.

Chris peered left and right, down and then up Wisconsin Avenue. There was a pretty big hoard of about 15 or so down the street. "Alright man, but there's something you need to know. These things are attracted to sound. So even though they don't notice us now, that hoard down there will come up this way after us. Luckily, they don't move fast. I guess that's one difference between Resident Evil and the _real _zombie apocalypse!" Chris smiled because he knew this would get a laugh out of James.

"Haha yeah right man. These fools ain't as bad as in the video games. At least when they're far away like that. Alright, let's go over and cap those creepers across the street and then book it down R to Canal Road, then take that down to the woods. We should be good to go from there.

"Word. Let's do this. You good Alex?"

"Yeah, I'm ready. These shoes aren't the best for 'booking it' though."

Chris thought for a second. There were several shoe stores right there on the street. The trouble was, getting into them would be rough. And right now there were only a few zombies nearby, who knows how many more would be on their way. If they could break into the shoe store, maybe they could find a pair…That would take at least 5 minutes. James could take watch though while the two went inside. There just wouldn't be time to shop around. There was also probably an alarm.

He remembered back to when he shot the first zombie. His head kinda exploded a bit. Not all the way, but the hole was huge for just a bullet hole. He thought maybe these things were soft from decay. Maybe they could use their knives to stab them in the head. That seemed way too risky though. If one of them were to be bitten, he assumed that they would turn. "Sorry babe, you're just gonna have to make due."

"Listen, if the lady needs some shoes we can get her some shoes man." James said.

"And how do you suppose we're gonna go shopping, no scratch that, shoplifting in Georgetown without attracting attention?"

"With this." James pulled out a machete.

"Shit man, why didn't you tell me you had that?" Chris asked.

"I wanted it to be a surprise, plus I haven't had a reason to kill no freaks yet. So, surprise! Let's go get them fools. I'll chop their heads off and you break into that shoe shop right there."

"And how do you suppose I'll do that?"

"Man for a big-time dealer you are seriously lacking in the thievery department man. Here." James pulled out a lockpick set and handed it over to Chris.

"Wow you are just full of surprises aren't you."

"Hey man, you gotta be prepared in the Z.A. homie. Now let's go do this."

They headed north a bit to circle around behind the zombies. James ran up and sliced off the first one's head, and the other 3 slowly turned around. One lunged at him and he quickly sliced off its head as well.

He then quickly made work of the other two.

"Man I gotta get me one of those. That was ruthless brother, you freakin wasted them!"

"Ain't no thing homie. Now go get the lady some shoes so we can get the fuck out of dodge."

Luckily the shoe store didn't have iron grating on it, or it would be near impossible to break in; Just a simple door. The shoes inside must be non-designer, but Chris didn't think Alex was going to mind. He hadn't used a lockpick set in over 10 years, but you never forget that type of skill. Within just a few minutes he had the door open. "After you m'lady."

"Why thank you." Alex replied with a smile.

Chris was surprised there was no alarm, but maybe it was a silent one? Well, he was pretty sure there wouldn't be any police dispatched. They quickly went to the back of the store, to the storeroom and just started opening boxes that were Alex's size. Within a few minutes she found a pair that was suitable. Some eco-friendly brand, but they looked soft and sturdy. She grabbed a pair of socks off of the shelf and quickly put them on, and then the shoes.

"Hey man, while we're here, we may as well get her some clothes. Sargent Lizard is right there." Chris said.

"Okay man, but make it quick. I don't like just standing here in broad daylight committin' crimes. I'm more of a nighttime criminal if you get my drift."

Chris broke into the clothing boutique and said, "Listen, just quickly grab a couple outfits and we'll get out of here. You can change once we get to camp."

"Okay." Alex replied. Chris went in after her just to make sure she didn't take too long. He actually saw a nice hooded sweatshirt that he decided to grab, and was surprised when he saw that she had taken a hoodie for herself as well. They left the store and Chris found it amusing that Alex was carrying a shopping bag with her. This was too surreal.

"Alright man, we're all set. Let's get out of here." Chris said.

"Good man, let's roll."

They headed down R Street toward Canal Road. Alex looked a little happier. Chris was glad. They were going to be together for a while, and he wanted to make sure he could keep her somewhat happy at least.


End file.
